


She doesn't get to decide you didn't

by Ukeleily



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Ew, Levi Schmitt - Freeform, Schmico, at this point they're already moved in, bob the scalpel, im sorry i have a problem with her, jo is rude, jo karev - Freeform, jo wilson - Freeform, nico kim - Freeform, patient, schmico if you blink, silence is thicc, sis snapped, where is bohkee
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-11-17 18:28:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18104003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ukeleily/pseuds/Ukeleily
Summary: A fic where Levi has had enough.





	1. Im done.

Levi was never one to get worked up over anything. He knew that, everyone else knew that. This made it easy for people to walk over him. Under certain circumstances he would get worked up but at that point he would just isolate himself so he wouldn’t take it out on anyone. He, however, could not escape this time given that he was in the middle of an operation.

“Hand me the clamp.” Jo said.

Levi complied but stayed silent. The tension in the room was so thick you could use a knife to cut it. Jo had never been nice to him and he tolerated that for the most part. As the time increased so did his annoyance with the whole situation. Jo had decided to take out her personal problems with him once again. This time though, he wouldn’t stand for it.

He looked up to meet her eyes. “What do you have against me?” He said, sass clear in his tone.

Jo seemed to have been taken aback by this but quickly recovered. “I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.” She quipped. 

He gritted his teeth and snapped, “I think you know what I’m referring to.” There was a brief pause but he picked up where he left off after using the suction. “You walk all over me like I’m some sort of door mat. Look, I don’t know your life story, nor do I know the struggles you went through to get to this point, but I do know that you’re not any more important than me.” 

Silence and brief eye contact through the surgical glasses she was wearing was his response. She was about to open her mouth again to speak when he started again. “As the chief resident you were supposed to be elevating us aside from teaching us. That’s not what you did. You kicked me when I was down, and I think that reflects on your leadership skills.”

She narrowed her eyes and replied, “Yea you kind of don’t know what I did to get to this point. I had my own struggles with domestic abuse and it took a lot for me to reach this point. I had to claw my way out of dark mental state. Interns are meant to be treated the way I treated you, otherwise their vulnerable. There is no space for error in this field, when we walk into this hospital, we leave our emotions at the door”. She shocked herself by the amount of information she just told him.

“Look I’m sorry you had to go through that, but it still doesn’t make you a better doctor then me so quit acting like that. First of all, emotions are very relative so as petty as my problems seem to you, I still feel them just as much as you. They’re the core of this field, without them we wouldn’t have been driven to do this. Second of all, there’s a difference between preparing someone for the emotional roller coaster that is being an intern and kicking them down only to leave them. Dr. Karev, I’m not asking for an apology, I’m giving you pointers to improve when teaching interns.” He said as they were beginning to close up. “People only talk about your positive attributes and maybe that’s the only part they see, but I’m sure as hell that’s not what I’m being shown from you at all.” The silence was heavy, and he finally decided he had enough. “Dr. Karev, I think you can finish” He seethed through his teeth. 

He stormed towards the washing station without giving her time to reply. In two seconds flat he was already out of the door. Jo was left with a new view of the resident that was previously standing before her and a suture in hand. Unbeknownst to them both, just above in the gallery standing concerned with his hands crossed over his chest was Nico.


	2. I guess I'll take the stairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another argument

He makes it his mission to avoid his boyfriend for as long as he possibly can. Whether it be taking the stairs instead of the elevator or picking up the cases no one else wants, he is dedicated to this goal. He has yet to tell Nico about what happened with Jo but from the odd looks he gives him he concludes he knows something. He briefly considers moving to another country or dying his hair a different color or maybe even changing his name. I’d probably get another nickname added to the list under Blood bank and Glasses he ponders. 

It’s been three days since the incident and so far, he hasn’t messed up. It took a ton of willpower and several instances where he threw himself on the ground on his two knees and begged Bailey to put him any other specialty that wasn’t ortho. She responded with “Nice try Schmitt, reverse psychology doesn’t work on me so as punishment, YOU are now on SCUT”. He left her standing in the middle of a hallway extremely confused after he thanked her profusely. 

He was forced to stop in the middle of eating his lunch because he was being paged to trauma. On his way there he stopped by the nurse’s station to ask what was going on. A tall young lady sporting aqua colored scrubs and fiery red afro walked up to the opposite side of the counter he was leaning on. He was already friends with her given he often spent time at the nurses chatting with her and whoever else was there. Her name was Francesca, but he called her Franny. It was almost as if she knew what he was about to ask when she nodded her head towards the commotion and she said, “Animals from the zoo are on the loose a few blocks away from the hospital”. He could only roll his eyes at the absurdness of the situation. “That’s not really anything out of the ordinary here anymore” he quipped. 

He pulled a yellow gown over his scrubs as he swiftly dodged the gurneys scattered around on his dash to trauma. Unfortunately for him, since he arrived late, he got an ortho case. It seemed as if the universe was against him today because Link and Amelia had to fly out to New York to treat a patient. He walked into the room and his view immediately went to the patient. As it should of course. His patient was very much awake and hadn’t appeared to be experiencing any pain, odd he thought to himself. Her left leg was decorated with several scratches but the one on her right seemed to have gotten most of the damage. Clearly, they were going to have to amputate it since it was completely battered. 

Nico walked up next to him and they briefly shared a look. He internally groaned knowing they would be having the discussion he was trying to prevent in the OR. He shook off those thoughts and turned his attention to the patient to present the case. “Female, age 16, scheduled for an emergency amputation of the right leg”. He stared at the patient confused and asked, “Why aren’t you....” as he struggled to find the right words she cut in “In pain? I’m trying really hard not to scream out in pain cause I know the pain will pay off”. This explanation left him even more confused. “I’m gonna have a whole bunch of battle scars and a robot leg that I get to show off in school” she continued. He replied with a drawn out “Oh” to express his understanding of her reasoning. Nico broke the conversation by saying, “Let’s get you prepped for surgery right now to prevent any other complications”.  
Around fifteen minutes later they found themselves in the OR lacking the music one of them would put on. Levi could sense Nico’s eyes on him and prayed he would go back to focusing on the surgery. They were not answered because a second later Nico’s voice broke the silence when he asked, “So are we going to talk about you avoiding me?”. 

“I wasn’t avoiding you” he said curtly. 

Nico then lashed out by asking him several questions while keeping his composure. “How come you were switched off my service? Why were you taking the stairs when you usually take the elevator? Why haven’t you been home in three days?” 

“I pissed off the chief and I decided that taking the stairs was a healthier option” He said, attempting to sound nonchalant.   
He looked up and was met with Nico deadpan expression. If not for the situation he would have found it cute. His train of thought was stopped when he reminded himself of the situation that was at hand.

“Why haven’t you been home in three days” Nico inquired again, using a softer tone. 

Levi then realized he was stuck between a rock in a hard place. He just wished it wasn’t in the OR where there were other people present. He looked around the room and his eyes met those of Francesca. She gave him an encouraging nod. (She knew about the situation already). 

He looked up to make sure no one was in the gallery because that mistake was not going to be made again. He looked down, not wanting to see Nico’s expression once he started to speak. “I know you know something about what happened, and I didn’t want that. When I’m with her I feel like my decisions are undermined. Every. Single. Time. I hate it when people bring up my mistakes. I honestly don’t see the need for it when I think I’ve learned from them. I was trying so hard not to face you after everything that happened. If you’re going to act like that when I decide to do things like this, don’t expect me to be the one to fix our problems you create when you walk out.” By the time he was done with his rant he had already moved on to stitch up the deep cuts on the other leg. 

Before grabbing the sutures, he looked at Nico. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve been the one to make amends when I make decisions over misunderstandings. I need you to know that after our encounter in the ambulance I have never tried to leave this.” He paused to use his hand to use a gesture referring to the space between the two of them. “I know how you feel about Jo. All I have to do is read your expressions to know how you feel for the most part”. Nico smiled to himself after saying that, appreciating that he knew Levi enough to be able to do that. “I’m proud of you and the growth you’ve showed. It sucks that people can’t move on from the past but that’s always going to happen. What I’m basically trying to say is that confronting her was the appropriate course of action, but I’m upset that you didn’t tell me how you felt about her regardless of what I was speculating.

As they walked out of the room to scrub out Levi quietly said, “I accept your apology and I’m sorry I lashed out”. Nico looked at Levi’s face and saw a familiar smile that was only reserved for him. “By the way after this shift is done, we’re going to the gym” Nico said on the way to the elevator. Levi abruptly stopped and gave him a look that was a mixture of confusion and disgust. A “hell no” was given in return. Nico turned around and started walking backwards with a mischievous smirk. “You said you were making healthier decisions as I recall” he referenced Levi’s response to his question about his newly adopted routine of taking the stairs. Levi playfully glared at him and as he increased his walking speed in an attempt to attack Nico. Nico was swift and made it towards the elevator and repeatedly clicked the button to close the doors. “Great now I actually have to take the stairs” Levi muttered to himself. Casey just so happened to be present and as a person who took the stairs most of the time, he asked, “What’s wrong with stairs”. He received an eyeroll in response.


End file.
